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Hyundai's Shannon: Unlike GM, we won't miss Super Bowl

LOS ANGELES -- Ford wasn’t the only automaker last week to tweak General Motors.

Shortly after GM announced it would not advertise during the 2013 Super Bowl telecast, Hyundai put out a statement saying it wouldn’t miss the opportunity to advertise in next year’s game.

“The Super Bowl is a perfect venue for a brand like Hyundai. We are extremely pleased to be an advertiser on the 2013 Super Bowl,” Steve Shannon, Hyundai marketing boss and a former GM marketing executive, wrote in an e-mail.

Earlier in the week, after GM said it would stop buying ads on Facebook, Ford said it would continue to buy ads on the social network site.

Hyundai has been a major player in Super Bowl advertising for the past five years. Last year, Hyundai had commercials in the second and fourth quarters of the game, and a one-minute spot that ran in the slot before kickoff.

But the millions of eyeballs watching the biggest football game of the year isn’t the only thing that Hyundai says it gets from its Super Bowl marketing effort. Thumbing his nose a little at GM’s decision to pull $10 million worth of paid ads on Facebook, Shannon said the big game brings big social media opportunities, too.

“In addition to the fact that this is far and away the best watched television program in the U.S., the social media opportunities continue to grow every year and we expect even more impact from this aspect of our advertising on the Super Bowl next year.”